


Playing House; Making a Home

by mangoapplepie (jg291)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 01:47:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4244886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jg291/pseuds/mangoapplepie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James lives AU in which he and baby Harry move into the small cabin Sirius and Remus have made their own while James grieves his wife. Sirius and Remus do more than take him into their home, though, they take him into their life. Wolfstar; eventual Sirius/Remus/James.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was like she had known all along. He and Remus had come over for the day to “celebrate” Halloween/Harry’s 15-month birthday. Lily had figured out a loophole in the magic protecting the house that would allow them to visit – and Peter too, if he hadn’t been “really ill, but so very sorry he couldn’t make it,” – for the day, without breaking the charm.

It was a lovely little day. Even in the terrible circumstances, they managed to celebrate. Candy for all – except for the baby, of course, as much as James wanted to share, Lily would _not_ let him. And Lily had looked so happy, too, watching James pick up Harry with glee, laughing along with jokes Remus had made that he and James never understood (Muggle things, of course, but Sirius couldn’t possibly be bothered to understand at this late stage in life), just joking with all of them. If Sirius had been paying more attention, he probably would have caught the sadness in her eyes, hidden by the smile on her lips that she was trying to so hard to uphold.

Eventually it got dark and late enough that Harry fell straight asleep even with all the commotion around him, and Remus suggested it was time for he and Sirius to head home.

Lily stopped them, though, before allowing them to the fireplace. She hugged Remus with that full body hug that somehow worked despite their not-insignificant height difference, and spent enough time hugging Sirius that James started hollering about Sirius trying to steal his girl 

When she finally dropped the hug, she looked deep in thought. When James started to ask her what was wrong, she finally turned back to her husband. “Hey, babe, I have an idea. Why don’t you go back with Sirius and Remus tonight? I’ll take care of Harry, and the magic will hold up enough to let you out for the night, and I know how much you all love your Halloween.”

James immediately looks conflicted. “Really, Lily? I don’t want to leave you alone for a night…”

She stops him before he can continue, chuckling slightly. “I’ll be fine. How cliché would it be to be attacked on Halloween? Go be with your friends. Go have fun, you deserve it, and I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Of course.” James leans in to peck Lily on the cheek before he goes, but she doesn’t let him pull away that quickly. She immediately wraps her arms around him and pulls him into a deep kiss. Sirius would look away, except it’s adorable and happy and maybe a little bit hot, and he’s glad his best friend has managed to find some happiness in the incredibly shit turn life decided to throw at them.

Eventually, though, Lily pulls away, changes her mind, hugs him more, and then finally pulls away for real.

“You sure I should go, Lil?”

“Yes, James. Please. I can survive a night without you!” She smiles again, and it’s so beautiful.

“Okay, then. See you tomorrow, my dear.”

At that, Remus disappears into the fire, and James follows. Sirius always insisted on flooing last when they were younger, and it became tradition. Before Sirius can head back to the home he shares with Remus, though, Lily pulls him back.

“Sirius, I need you to do something for me, okay?”

“Sure, Evans, what’s up?”

“Make sure James stays the night with you guys. Get him drunk, have some fun, I don’t care. Just don’t let him come home til morning. Can you do that for me?”

Sirius nods, says his goodbyes, and steps into the flames.

It’s a bit of an odd request from Lily, but he doesn’t think anything of it.

Except Peter wasn’t really ill, after all, unless “trying to murder your best friends and their child” is a new illness Sirius has yet to hear about.

When they get the firecall from Dumbledore at 3 a.m. telling them there had been an attack at Godric’s Hollow and asking them to investigate, Lily’s request starts to make sense, with James soundly passed out on the single bed in the spare room. Remus immediately goes to wake James, but Sirius stops him.

“Let him sleep til morning, Moony, he can deal with this – whatever it is – then. He should get the sleep he can now.”

Remus just nods, runs to get his coat, but Sirius again, stops him.

“I got this, I’ll go,” Sirius decides. “You stay here in case James wakes up and wants to know what’s going on.”

He immediately Apparates out before Remus can stop him, and lands into destruction. No one is downstairs, and when he runs up to the bedroom, he sees two bodies lying on the floor. The first, lovely Lily, who merely looks asleep with her beautiful hair spread out around her, but unmoving in the most sinister of ways. The next, a horrific creature splayed out before him – even though he appears to be dead, Sirius feels the chill that he’s heard Voldemort brings with him.

Voldemort being dead makes no sense, until Sirius glances to the crib. He finally notices Harry, eyes open, crying, with a fresh new cut on his forehead, but otherwise seemingly unharmed. _How is Harry okay?_ Sirius struggles with the answer, but he knows he has to get the boy out of the house immediately. He runs to the crib, gingerly avoiding Lily’s body and not caring much about the other one, grabs Harry, and pops back out of the room to go back home.

Sirius and Remus don’t get any more sleep that night. They get back to Dumbledore, tell him what happened. They arrange for Aurors to collect and dispose of Voldemort’s body, and take Lily’s, with care, as well.

It’s about 9 a.m. when James stumbles out of the spare bedroom, a look of sleep still on his face. “Why’d you lads let me sleep so late? I have a wife and son to get back to.”

As if on cue, Harry starts babbling from the chair Sirius had transfigured into a crib. James, upon hearing Harry, looks right at the boy.

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, Pads, I did consume a little Firewhiskey last night, but surely we didn’t actually take Harry back with us when we came over here?”

“No, James, he came later,” Sirius states weakly.

“You two look like shit,” James says as realization starts to dawn on his face. “Fuck. What happened.” Not a question, Sirius realizes, James knows.

Remus clears his throat. “Perhaps you want to sit down?”

“Fuck. Yeah. Okay,” James says, as he takes a seat in the chair near Harry. He finally notices the fresh cut on Harry’s forehead, and he makes a weird sound as if he’s trying to hold in a gasp.

“Well,” Remus starts, but he’s unsure how to continue, so Sirius decides to swoop in.

“Prongs, we have good news, and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

“How bad is it? And how good?” James demands, steeling himself up as if he’s bracing for the worst.

“Very,” Sirius states somberly. “On both counts,” he adds.

“Bad, then,” James says, but he chokes it out, like he’s trying to hold back a sob.

“Well, last night, Voldemort,” and James growls a little when Sirius says the name, “got into your house and –“

“How?” James demands.

Remus pops in. “There’s unfortunately only one explanation that makes sense, and –“

James cuts him off. “Peter?” he barks, and Sirius watches his face fall when Remus nods.

Sirius ramps up to continue, even though he really, really doesn’t want to. “So Voldemort got into the house and it appears he tried to get to Harry. Lily stepped in the way of the curse and intersected it.”

“The curse?”

“The killing curse, James,” Remus says gently.

At that, James finally lets out the sob that he’s been holding in since he was asked to sit down. Harry notices his dad crying, and starts to cry as well. _Perfect_ , Sirius thinks.

Remus gets up to try to calm the baby – thank Merlin Remus is good at handling things like this – as Sirius confirms what James must be assuming. “She’s dead, Prongs. I’m so, so sorry.”

“You should have gotten there earlier!” James stands up, enraged.

Sirius is genuinely confused. “What?”

“If only you – or whoever – had gotten there a few moments earlier, you could have gotten there in time to save Lily and not just get Harry out.”

“I’m so sorry, James,” Sirius repeats, not sure what to say. This is by far the worst conversation he’s ever had, even surpassing the conversation he had with his parents right before he left, when he told them about his actual relationship with Remus. “But remember I said I had good news?”

James nods weakly, the anger still on his face. “What could possibly be good news after this?”

“Well, okay. So Voldemort got in, and Lily intersected the curse. However, she was standing right in front of Harry, and as she fell, the curse passed behind her, hitting Harry square on his forehead.”

“What sort of good news could possibly start with my son getting hit by Avada Kedavra? Dammit, Sirius, get to the bloody point already.”

“Prongs, just let me finish, okay? Okay, so the curse hit Harry, but as you can see, it obviously didn’t kill him. It bounded back off of Harry, and hit Voldemort instead.”

Sirius pauses to let that sink in, only continuing when James indicates that he doesn’t understand.

“Voldemort is dead, Prongs. His curse bounced off of Harry and killed him. I saw his body myself. The prophecy came true, Harry – somehow – killed him – and you guys are safe now.”

“Harry … _killed_ You-Know-Who?”

When Sirius nods, James slumps down into his chair further than would seem possible. He drops his head into his hands, like he’s trying to hide from the world for a few moments.

Once Harry stops crying, Remus join them at the table. He glances at Sirius, as if he’s trying to figure out how to proceed. Sirius only looks back, because he has _no_ idea what to do.

After a few moments, James sits up abruptly. His eyes are redder than they were moments before. “This is all my fault,” he announces, a blank expression on his face. “I should have been there.”

Sirius and Remus both start to speak at once. Sirius, wanting to deny everything James just said, lets Remus continue, because he probably has something a bit more sensible to say.

“You can’t possibly believe that, James, you know that, right?” Remus asks. “Voldemort came to kill your son. You would have done _anything_ to protect Harry, and probably would have jumped in the way to try to protect him and Lily for a little bit longer. You could have died, too, if you were there. You probably would have.”

“I should have been there!” James shouts. “I could have – even if I did die – I could have held him off long enough to get them away!”

Remus tries to counter James’ anger with logic. “Or, you could have died, and then Lily could have died, too, and then Harry would have no parents at all. Would that be better?”

James doesn’t respond, or at least, that’s what Sirius is going to believe, because it almost looked like James opened his mouth to start saying ‘yes.’ Which, obviously, would _not_ be an okay thing to say.

Sirius decides to take another approach. “Okay, Prongs, this is going to sound weird, but I sort of kind of feel like Lily knew what was going to happen. She was so kind yesterday, even to _me_ , and after you two had Flooed away, she held me back for a moment. She was adamant that you were _not_ to come home until the morning, no matter what. It was kind of weird at the time.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you _say_ anything about that? You should have realized something was going on!”

Okay, so maybe explaining the situation wasn’t the best idea. But perhaps it was better to let James have it out at Sirius?

“How could I have known what she meant, Prongs? Come on. Would you have realized anything?”

“I would have figured it out,” James insists. “It’s Lily we’re talking about here. Did she –“

Baby Harry interrupts, though, before James can finish his thought, and of course, he says the one word Sirius has been hoping he wouldn’t say for quite some time: “Mama?”

At that, the rage on James’ face instantly dissipates, but he goes back to broken immediately. “Oh, oh – no. It _was_ Lily we’re talking about. Not _is._ ”

Harry, not realizing how much he is _not_ helping the situation, calls out for Lily again. Remus gets up to try to confront the boy, but pauses when James stands up. Sirius watches as James makes his way over to the crib and picks up his son. Harry breaks out into a smile once his dad picks him up, but it’s not a smile James can reciprocate. He does, however, start talking directly into Harry’s ear. Sirius can’t quite make out the words, but he gets the gist of what his best friend is trying to convey.

Lily’s not coming back.

***

The funeral comes and goes. It’s a lovely ceremony, with everyone Lily ever cared about showing up – even Snivellus, ugh, and Lily’s horrid sister, but at least she didn’t bring her even more horrid husband and son.

It was the only time James left the house in the two weeks it’s been since she died. Sirius tries to get him out, but gently – ‘don’t you want to leave the house, go out, do something fun, now that you’re not in hiding anymore?’ But James did not take that well, muttered something or other about he and Harry will leave the house the next day if Sirius wants him to leave that badly, which is _obviously_ not what Sirius meant. So Sirius never brings it up again, and lets James fall into a quiet little routine.

James has basically moved in permanently to the spare bedroom – ‘I just can’t go back to the Hollow, not where she … ’ - while Sirius and Remus remain in their room. The crib ends up in different places every night; sometimes, James likes to have Harry as near as possible; sometimes, he just wants to get some sleep. They don’t go out.

Sirius is getting restless. He normally wouldn’t mind being locked in a cabin with his two (well, three, Harry counts now) favorite people in the world, but the atmosphere is all wrong. James will talk to them, but he’s not himself. Obviously, Sirius isn’t mad or anything, but he’s pretty sure James hasn’t joked, laughed, or even smiled since arriving.

It doesn’t help that Harry’s figured out his mom isn’t going to show up anytime soon, but he does seem to be crying more than usual. James can handle Harry’s crying in the morning, tolerate it in the afternoons, but at nights, he can’t bring himself to interact with his son at all. It’s no good for anyone.

Lily isn’t coming back, Sirius knows, but would it be too much to get James back? His James, not this weird shell.

***

Remus brings the problem up one morning, when Sirius wakes up to see Remus deep in thought.

“The full moon is tomorrow, you know, Sirius.”

“I knowww, Moony,” Sirius says. He smiles, as if he could forget this important fact. Remus always reminds him, though, so Sirius can cancel his plans for the moon (he never has any) and make arrangements to spend the night in the woods (there are no arrangements to be made; they just go, like always.)

“No, Pads, I mean, I know you know, but it’s different this month? We have a baby living with us.”

“So I’ll just go out with you and James can stay here with Harry. You know he doesn’t meet up with us every month.”

Remus purses his lips, like he’s trying to find a good way to phrase what he needs to say. Sirius loves how politically correct Remus tries to be, even when they’re literally alone in bed. After a few moments, Remus finally starts to speak. “I’m … not sure it’s a good idea to leave Harry alone with James. I can just go into the woods myself; it might take me a few more days to heal if I’m alone, but that’s okay, because it’s not like we’re doing much these days anyway."

“Fuck, Remus, I didn’t even think of that. We need to do something.”

“Do something?” Remus asks, confused. “I told you I’d go myself; it’s not ideal but –“

“No,” Sirius declares. “Not about tomorrow. Tomorrow’s easy; you and James will go out into the woods and I can take care of Harry for a night. I mean – what the hell kind of friends are we being? We’re letting James fall into a position where he’s not even equipped to spend a night with his own son?”  

“Come on, Sirius, it’s hasn’t even been a month.”

“Remus,” and Sirius pauses, unsure of how to proceed, “does he seem like he’s getting any better to you?”

“No, but – and I repeat – it hasn’t even been a month. If I were to, well, die, I wouldn’t exactly expect you to get back to your smiley, happy, regular self not three weeks later.”

“Why?”

“Pads, what do you mean, why?”

This conversation isn’t going how Sirius would have wanted it to. He decides to try a new approach. “Look, Remus, obviously sadness is a natural part of this, but would you want me to stay sad forever? Never be okay again? Hell, do you think _Lily_ would want that? You do realize he hasn’t smiled once since he and Harry moved in.”

Remus glances up from where he had been gazing at the wall to look Sirius directly in the eye. “Hmm, I suppose that’s true. So what do you reckon we should do about it?”

“Well, first of all, don’t go dying on me.”

Remus smiles, and it’s brilliant. Sirius still doesn’t understand how he got so lucky that Remus would love _him_ , and he actually wouldn’t know how he would live without Remus. It would _absolutely_ take him more than a month to be okay again, but Remus doesn’t need to know that. Sirius, doesn’t, however, like the scenario Remus put into his head, though, and decides to do something about it.

Sirius hoists himself up from his lying-down position, brings his hands to Remus’s cheeks. He pulls Remus close to him for a sweet, lovely kiss. It’s just a short peck, Sirius reassuring himself of all the love he has in front of him, but when he tries to pull away, Remus pulls him back instantly. The kiss that follows is anything but sweet – Sirius’s closed lips instantly ceding to Remus’s tongue, Sirius responding with a soft bite on Remus’s lower lip before sneaking his way down Remus’s neck. They haven’t really done much of this since James got there, hadn’t seemed fair. The cabin is small enough that James will surely be able to hear them, and Sirius should care, but the full moon is tomorrow, and Remus isn’t the best at resisting his urges as the lunar cycle draws to a close.

Remus, moaning lightly at the soft pressure Sirius is applying to his neck, suddenly flips them over so Sirius is lying down on his back, Remus flat on top of him.

This is a very unfortunate time for Remus to still be wearing clothing, so Sirius decides to divest him of the tee and boxers Remus insists on sleeping in. Five years together and Remus is _still_ embarrassed about his scars, even though Sirius has told him multiple times how much he a) doesn’t dislike the scars, and b) actually finds them quite sexy, a testament to Remus’s inner strength. Luckily, though, they long ago got over the stage where he wanted to be clothed in bed.

Sirius can’t take Remus’s shirt off without breaking their kiss, though, so it’s a tough decision. Luckily, Remus makes it for him, eventually pulling away. The shirt quickly comes off, and as soon as it is, Remus starts peppering Sirius’s chest with more kissing. It’s slow, sensuous torture, Remus knowing exactly how to touch, to kiss, to suck to drive Sirius absolutely insane.  

It’s wonderful.

It’s been so long, and despite the shit they’ve gone through, they’re still so young, so it’s over quickly. Remus barely gets mouth onto Sirius before Sirius finds his release. Remus swallows, mostly, before rubbing his hand all over Sirius, wetting his own hand with Sirius’s cum to finish himself off. It’s a wolf thing, apparently, Remus wanting to rub Sirius’s cum all over himself, ‘scent mixing,’ as he called it once. Sirius has never really understood it, but damn if he doesn’t find it hot.

Remus snakes himself back up to where Sirius is laying and collapses his hand into the crook of Sirius’s neck.

“Mmm,” Sirius sighs, “this was nice.”

Remus chuckles. “A bit more than nice, I would say.”

“Yeah,” Sirius agrees. “I love you, Moony.” When Remus hums his assent, Sirius smiles.

Before they fall back into the throes of sleep, however, Sirius wants to finish the conversation he started earlier. “Promise me you’ll help me figure out a plan to get James happy again?”

"Sex is happy," Remus mutters sleepily. "Maybe we should seduce James."

Sirius gazes at him. "You know … that's not actually a bad idea."

Remus sits up, suddenly awake. “Come on, Pads, you know I was joking.”

It’s too late, though. Once Sirius gets an idea in his head, he won’t let it drop. And he _likes_ this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you've enjoyed this so far! This is going to be the angstiest chapter by far, don't worry. The fun stuff will come soon. I'm a bit nervous about this one, so comments/kudos appreciated :)


	2. Chapter 2

A couple hours later, they’ve properly woken up, and are cooking a late breakfast when James stumbles out of the spare room, hair even more disheveled than usual. 

“Oi, Prongs, thinking about going for a fly today. Any chance you’d want to join, maybe we can pull out a Snitch and play a game of one-on-one?”

“No, I’m okay,” James mutters as he sits down to the table. “Not really feeling up to it today.”

When _has_ he been feeling up to anything lately? Luckily, Sirius isn’t giving up that easily. Getting James out on a broom again is just Phase One of his plan. “Nah, I don’t think I’m gonna take ‘no’ for an answer. We all know Moony is shit at flying and I don’t want to go out alone,” Sirius whines.

“Hey!” Remus exclaims, in mock protest. “I’m not … awful. Actually, James, you better go with him. It’ll be better for everyone involved.”

“Yes!” Sirius is playing along, but he’s really just excited Remus is helping him with the plan. How far Remus intends to help is still to be determined – not that Sirius would proceed in a seduction plot without Remus’s full consent, of course – but Sirius will take what he can get for now. “We’re going. Soon as breakfast is over.”

“Must I?” James sighs in protest, but … it doesn’t seem like his heart is in it? “Yeah, fine, if you’re gonna make me, I suppose I can join.”

Sirius smiles, using the one he knows to be irresistible. Not that he hasn’t won James over in this battle, but there’s a lot more work to go.

An hour later, Sirius and James have dressed in proper flying gear, and Sirius practically drags James out to the open field next to the house. Remus trails behind them, Harry in his arms.  

“Padfoot, if you let me win,” James grumbles, “I will know it was on purpose and I will _never_ fly with you again.”

Sirius grins, because that’s exactly what he was planning to do. “Oh, Prongsie, how well you know me.”

Remus laughs. James glares. It’s almost like it’s back to old times.

“So how are we doing this?” Sirius asks. “First one to catch the Snitch wins?  Fly until we feel like it?”

“Well, neither of us were seekers…” James starts.

Sirius interjects. “Really?”

James, holy fucking shit, sticks out his tongue in response. Sirius cannot help the giant smile that blooms on his face. Harry babbles appealingly. Merlin, it’s as if that boy is on cue. This is going to be a lovely day.

“As I was _saying_ , Pads, neither of us were seekers, so who knows how long it’ll take for the Snitch to be caught. Let’s play until it’s caught, or until you get bored, and then see?”

“Until _I_ get bored, James? Compared to you, of the eternal stamina?”

James stalls, stands still. Maybe it’s too soon for teasing, Sirius thinks, so he’s shocked when he hears what James has to say next: “It does feel nice to be outside.”

When they get to the spot in the middle of the field where they always launch their games, James stops walking and turns around to face Remus, but he leans down to talk to Harry. Sirius instantly falls silent to try to hear what James is saying.

“Hey, kid, sorry I haven’t been here for you the last coupla weeks. I’ll try to be better, yeah?”

Remus, who is still holding Harry as James makes his admission, lights up. He looks at Sirius with a knowing glance, and nods. Sirius got this one right, after all.  

It’s a perfect day for flying; sunny but not blindingly so, a warm day for the end of November. Remus gathers Sirius and James about five feet apart and pulls out of Snitch. “When I release the Snitch,” Remus formally announces, “the competition will begin.”

Sirius mounts his broom, and he can feel the magic beneath him. It’s been _far_ too long since he’s flown, with not wanting to go up alone and James in hiding. His leg twitches eagerly as Remus counts down and all of a sudden, up he goes.

At first, Sirius is distracted by the feeling of the wind rushing against him as he passes it by. It feels so wonderful, he forgets he’s supposed to be searching for the Snitch. 

Until James calls out. “Padfoot, come on, I told you not to go easy on me,” he whines.

“I’m not!” Sirius protests. He honestly forgot they were competing.

“Yeah, sure you weren’t,” James wheedles as he flies right by. Sirius watches him go, though, and catches something he hasn’t seen in far too long – a smile on his best friend’s face.

It’s amazing how much it lights up James’s features, puts dimples in his cheeks and a twinkle in his eye. Sirius feels a pang of longing for his friend that he hasn’t felt in _years_ , ever since Lily said yes to him and he and Remus had to give up the plot to get James into their bed. (Yes, there was a plot, and _yes,_ Remus was in on it. Quite liked the idea, in fact.) Sirius needs to handle Phase Two with care, and get Remus fully on board, because this – James – is something he wants so very much.

But now’s not the time to get distracted; Sirius has a ball to catch.

Forty-five minutes later, though, Sirius decidedly did not catch the Snitch. Not for lack of trying! He and James almost collided when they spotted it at the same time, but James just happened to get there first. Sirius is pissed, too. He was looking forward to gloating, but alas.

As he looks to James, though, to try to discuss whether they want to continue, he notices that his best friend is smiling again, a big smile this time, and it’s radiant. Oh, Sirius is truly and deeply fucked (and not in the fun way).

James locks eyes with Sirius, bringing Sirius back to earth. (Well, not really, because they’re still hovering in the air, but, you know…)

“Good game, Padfoot, thanks for *actually* playing along,” James says with a grin. A really, really attractive grin. “Good to go back down though? Kind of want to play with Harry for a bit.”

“Sure!” Sirius exclaims, probably a bit too excitedly, but he kind of can’t believe the 180 in James’ demeanor, that it could turn so quickly. “Yeah, sounds lovely. He’s old enough to get the starter broomstick, yeah?”

“Merlin, Sirius, no!” James shouts as he flies down to the ground. When Sirius meets him, James has a dumb expression on his face. “Oi, you were joking.”

“Yes, Prongs,” Sirius agrees, “just a joke.”

Remus walks up to them, the baby in his arms. James immediately walks over to take his son, a smile on his face. Sirius watches Remus watch the exchange, his boyfriend’s expression hard to analyze. There’s fondness there, but definitely some … more, as well. Just one more thing to figure out.

***

James spends the entire day playing with Harry, singing him songs, trying to teach him to crawl even though it’s way too early. Sirius is so incredibly charmed; he doesn’t even understand what’s happening to him. Waking up in the morning with a big fat crush on his recently widowed best friend; yes, what a regular, everyday occurrence. It was like Remus’s suggestion, made in jest, no less, flipped a switch inside him, a switch that he managed to shut off so many years ago.  

It wasn’t Remus, see, that made Sirius realize he was far more interested in members of his own gender than the other one. No, with Remus, it was like a flip that switched – one day realizing that Remus was in fact attractive, the next realizing he was completely and utterly in love. It was very different with James. James was the true athlete of the bunch. Sirius watched as James was the first one of them to get his growth spurt, watched as James’s hours and hours of Quidditch gave his body the light musculature that Sirius couldn’t look away from, every time James was wearing no sleeves, or even better, no shirt.

It was James who Sirius first dreamed about, the one who forced him to realize girls weren’t really the way to go. But Sirius knew it would never happen – even if James would consider being with another guy, it would never happen when he had Lily Evans in front of him to pursue – and so he let his feelings subside. When Remus happened to him, fifth year, it was the most wonderful thing in the world, and it was enough for him.

Until Remus, one night, at the very beginning of seventh year, asked him after a little too much Firewhiskey if he ever considered making out with Prongs. At first, Sirius thought he was caught, but then Remus continued. “Don’t get me wrong, Pads, I’m so very happy with you, but, Evans keeps turning him down, and I don’t want him to be lonely forever. And he does have such lovely lips, you know.”

Sirius giggled. “Really?”

Remus stiffened. “You don’t have to be weird about it, I was just thinking out loud.”

“No, Moony,” Sirius hastened to say, because he didn’t want Remus to feel weird, “I totally agree. He has the loveliest lips in the land.”

“Should we do anything about it?” Remus pondered, looking as deep in thought as one can when shit-faced.

“What’s there to do?” Sirius responded. “Prongs is totally and utterly straight."

“Is he, though?”

“What do you do, ‘is he’? Of course he is – he’s been mooning over Evans for six years now,” Sirius argued.

“You didn’t notice how he looked at us, after we told him about our relationship? When he – caught – us? Look, I’m not saying he _only_ likes men, but I wouldn’t be surprised if James’ dating pool is wider than you think.”

Sirius took a moment to reflect on Remus’s information. He could buy it, he thought. “So what do you expect me to do with this information?”

Remus paused. “Hmm, I hadn’t gotten that far. We should play around with him, though,” he decided.

And so they did. The next couple weeks, Sirius and Remus were extra flirty and touchy when James was around. Not in an overt way, of course, but Sirius would find himself sprawled over Remus’s lap in the common room, even when James was sitting right next to Remus on the couch, or they’d be lax about closing their curtains at night. Peter complained way too much when that happened, but – James never did? Never said _anything_ , but Sirius could tell it affected him somehow. 

The confusion ended the next time James broke out his dad’s Firewhiskey. Peter was nowhere to be found – apparently on a date with that Hufflepuff girl – so it’s just the three of them. When they’re all a few drinks deep, James shushed their laugh, as if he wanted to speak.

“You guys are flirting with me?”

“Is that a question, Prongs?” Sirius teased, lazy grin on his face.

“No?” James wondered, question still in his voice.

“Would you like it if we were flirting with you?” Remus inquired, ever the suave one.

“Maybe?”

“Another question, Prongs,” Sirius chastised. Remus hummed in agreement. 

James swallowed audibly. “Yes,” he stated, after a moment. “I would.”

Sirius felt a shiver run through him. James noticed, which became very clear when he started grinning, glad he got the upper hand back. He stretched out to relax, and his muggle shirt rode up, showing off his abs. Sirius blinked, unsure of how to proceed.

Luckily, Remus was more in control. “James, have you been thinking about us like how we’ve been thinking about you?” Remus’s voice was tempered with a roughness Sirius only heard in their bed, and the shivers kept running through him.

“And what way would that be?” James asked, eyes wide with – excitement? Arousal?

Sirius watched the exchange in wonderment, a pulse running through him unlike anything he’d ever felt before. Next thing he knew, Remus was getting up from where he was half-laying on top of Sirius, to sit down right next to James.

“Let me show you,” Remus murmured, leaning in close. He paused, close as he could get with contact, forcing James to make the choice on his own.

James muttered something under his breath, but before Sirius could make sense of it, James closed the gap, bringing his lips to Remus.

Remus gasped, a sound normally reserved for Sirius, and Sirius found himself growling. He wanted James to stop eliciting that sound from his boyfriend, he wanted to touch himself from watching the most arousing scene he’d ever laid eyes on, he wanted to close his ears to the moans coming from James as Remus sucked a light mark into James’s neck, he wanted to kiss James himself.

Sometime later – it felt like hours, but it was probably just seconds – Remus pulled away. _Finally_ , Sirius thought, as James elicited a little whine. Remus stood, started to head towards Sirius. Sirius snuck a glance at James, who was red and panting and gorgeous.

“We shouldn’t keep Padfoot out of the fun, should we, Prongs?”

“No,” James responded with a waiver in his voice, as Remus came back to sit next to his boyfriend.

Remus kissed Sirius, but it was as if Sirius could taste James on his tongue. He let himself get lost in the kiss, and it’s incredible, urgent, hot. And James is just waiting there, watching them.

Until Remus suddenly pulls away, and Sirius found himself looking directly into Peter’s face.

“I said, James, why were you letting them make out in front of you like that?” Peter addressed James, clearly confused. “You guys wasted or something?”

Remus, who somehow completely managed to pull himself together in the 30 seconds, which James and Sirius were most definitely not able to do, nodded his head in the direction of the mostly consumed whiskey bottle. Peter chuckled, as if he understood what had just been happening.

He most definitely had not. He did, however, make immediate steps to get ready for bed. At first, Sirius was glad, thinking they can continue, but the spell was over.

Oh well. They could do that again.

Except, they can’t. Fate played a cruel trick on him, and Lily agreed to go out with James the very next day. It’s never spoken of again, and Sirius shoved the feelings for his best friend back where they belonged – out of mind.

But that was years ago, and the situation has changed now. As sad as it is, there’s no Lily anymore to keep James away from him and Remus. It does surprise Sirius how very much he wants James though, seemingly out of nowhere.

He catches himself staring at James all through dinner, and while he’s pretty sure James didn’t notice, he’s even more sure that Remus did.

They’re doing dishes the Muggle way – Remus finds it relaxing – while James puts Harry to bed, standing in comfortable silence. For a few moments, anyway.

“Were you serious about wanting James?” Remus blurts, out of nowhere.

“First of all, love, I’m always Sirius,” he jokes, making Remus roll his eyes. “Second, you’re the one that brought it up, Moony.”

“I was sex-hazy! But, um, is that something you might want?”

Sirius freezes. It is, of course it is, but he doesn’t know the answer Remus is looking for. On the one hand, it was something Remus was interested in, back when they were still in school, but on the other, Remus could have moved back into one of his insecure phases and think that if Sirius might want James, he wouldn’t want Remus anymore. Which – obviously – was not the case.

“Yes?” Sirius ventures, praying it’s the right way to go.

Remus breaks out a huge smile. Oh, thank Merlin. “Okay, me too,” he confesses.

Yeah?” Sirius asks, still in a bit of disbelief.

“Yes,” Remus confirms. “It’s just, we talked about it in school, and the idea never _really_ left my head, and I just want him to be happy, and I think we can make him happy, and ….” Remus trails off, suddenly unsure.

“What is it, love?”

“The, um, wolf wants him, too.”

“Yeah?” Sirius marvels. “What does that even mean?”

“It’s hard to explain. But…” Remus hesitates, unsure of how to continue, “… I don’t just want to have him. I want to _keep_ him. And the full moon _is_ tomorrow, so this might subside, of course, but right now, it’s powerful – but you always come first, so if what I’m saying is freaking you out, just stop me right now, and I’ll move on.”

Freaking him out? That is literally the exact _opposite_ of the effect Remus’s words are having on him. But he wants more clarification, just in case.

“So what you’re saying is – and correct me if I’m wrong – that not only do you want James, in a ‘it’d be nice to fuck him’ type of way, but in a ‘let’s fuck him and keep him and never let him leave and the three of us can be a unit from now on’ type of way?”

“Shit, Sirius, when you put it that way, it sounds –“

Sirius cuts him off. “Perfect?” he offers.

“Really?”

Without thinking, Sirius leans in to kiss Remus. “Really,” he whispers into Remus’s ear, once the kiss is over.

James walks in not a moment later, a bit of a spring in his step. “What’re you two talking about?”

“Tomorrow night,” Remus answers.

“Hmm?” James asks. Sirius is wondering too – are they instituting the plan _that_ soon? What about the moon?

“Full moon,” Remus continues. “Wanted to ask if you wanted to come out with me and Sirius could stay in and watch Harry?”

Sirius has never understand how could just _do_ that – go from what they were just talking about (holy shit, what they were just talking about) to logistics of a full moon in a heartbeat.

“I mean, that’d be great, it’d be nice to take a night to, um, take a night off, but Sirius, wouldn’t you mind?

“No, I think that’s something we’d both like very much,” Sirius says, almost purrs.

Remus makes a curious sound that’s half a cough, half choking.

James scowls. “What am I missing?” he asks.

“Nothing,” answers Remus. “Nothing at all.”

There’s a beat, and then Remus is talking again. “Oh, and one more thing – I usually sleep and heal in the bed in the spare room after the full moon, because it’s further off the main room and then Sirius won’t disturb me.”

Sirius is confused. That’s literally never happened before – after the moon, Remus will always sleep in their regular bed. Sometimes Sirius will sleep in the spare bed, to give Remus the time to rest, but that’s pretty rare. So Sirius opens his mouth as if to speak, but Remus discreetly pokes him in the side.

“Okay, yeah, sure,” James agrees. “I’ll just sleep on the couch, then, and Harry can stay out there with me.”

Sirius gets it now. “Nonsense, my dear Prongs! You can sleep with me,” he says, waggling his eyebrows for effect.

“Nah, Padfoot, it’s fine,” James protests, “the couch works.”

“Absolutely not. My bed is definitely big enough for two. And besides, it’s not like we haven’t shared a bed before.”

And they had. They often fell asleep in each other’s beds after scheming and planning their next prank, or debriefing after a successful one. Accidental sleepovers were quite the common occurrence in the relationship between Sirius and James.

Purposeful sleepovers were less common, but they had occurred. The first time James ever slept in Sirius’s bed, it was the second night after Christmas break their first year. James had noticed that Sirius had fresh marks on his back, lovely presents from his parents the first time they confronted him for letting himself get sorted into Gryffindor. James confronted him about it, when the others weren’t around, and Sirius wouldn’t say anything, but James knew, somehow, and when it was time to go to bed, James made himself comfortable in Sirius’s bed. When Sirius complained, James announced that he simply wasn’t moving and Sirius could join him, or not sleep. Sirius didn’t think very hard about it, because he could have easily slept in his friend’s bed, but he appreciated the cuddling as the night went on.

The next time was when Sirius ran away from home. He arrived at the Potters in the middle of the night, and Mrs. Potter woke and tried to arrange a bed for him. James stopped her and dragged Sirius up to his bed. “Let’s go back to bed, yeah, Pads?” he said, and that was that. Sirius stayed in James’s bed the next three nights, even though he had his own room made up by the time he woke up the first morning.

So, yeah, bed-sharing was not exactly an uncommon occurrence between James and Sirius. It hadn’t, however, happened since that night, where James and Remus –

“Fine, yeah,” James cuts in, interrupting Sirius’s mind from spinning, “I suppose I can get back in your bed.” 

“Excellent,” Sirius says, trying to keep calm, but it’s hard to contain his glee.

The rest of the evening passes quietly – James and Remus get sucked into some Muggle quiz show on the telly (which James is hilariously bad at, because it involves Muggle culture he’s entirely unfamiliar with), but he seems to enjoy it all the same. Sirius, for his part, watches them watch it, feeling bliss at the domestic scene occurring. He wants this, forever. He hopes he and Remus can make it stick.

“Well, I’m gonna head to bed,” James announces, a couple hours later, “since I won’t really be sleeping tomorrow night.”

“Why won’t you be sleeping tomorrow night, Prongs?” Sirius teases. “Got exciting plans that’ll keep you up?”

“The moon, you wanker,” James retorts, but there’s a grin on his face.

Oh. Yes. Right. The moon.

“But if you have exciting plans for me, there’s always later,” James drawls, as he heads out into his room.  

Sirius turns to Remus. “Was that flirting?”

“Um, you know,” Remus stammers, “I’m not sure. Let’s head to bed too?”

“Yeah, Moony,” Sirius agrees, “let’s head to bed. Maybe things will make sense in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're enjoying! Comments would be so very appreciated :)


	3. Chapter 3

Things don’t make sense in the morning. It being the morning of the full moon, Remus is incredibly on edge. Sometimes Sirius can use that to his advantage, but with the weird tension happening in the little house, Remus is just jumpy. _No pre-moon blow jobs this month_ , Sirius thinks with a sigh.

James, on the other hand, stays as far away from them as possible, which, considering the size of the cabin, is not very far. It’s like he’s trying to sink himself into the furniture so that they won’t notice him. He’s interacting with Harry, feeding him, playing with him, but that’s pretty much it.

Eventually, nighttime starts to fall, and James and Remus head out to the woods, after James checked with Sirius about a million times that he would be okay with Harry.

“He’s my _godson_ , Prongs, what’s the worst that could happen?” Sirius asks.

“Tempting fate, my dear friend, tempting fate,” James says with a bright smile. Merlin, he’s so _weird_ today.

“I promise, though, Harry and I will be fine. Now go,” Sirius demands, recognizing the anxious look on Remus’s face as the moon starts to draw a little bit too near.

So they do, and Sirius settles himself in for a quiet night.

Harry, of course, has other plans. The baby has apparently decided that without his father nearby, he will not sleep. Unless, of course, Sirius cradles Harry and sings him little lullabies. Sirius doesn’t know where he even got the lullabies from – certainly not from his parents – but they seem to do the trick. Eventually.

By the time Harry finally gets to bed, it’s probably 1 o’clock in the morning. Oh, James is going to kill Sirius.

Or will he? James has never acted more weirdly towards Sirius than he had the last two days. He’s been happy and smiley one minute, jumpy and nervous the next. It would make sense if it seemed like James was trying to keep a brave face through his grief, but that’s not what it’s seems like. It’s like he genuinely is happy, but then, feels weird about it? Like - he shouldn’t be?

That could be it, except if James was feeling guilty about starting to heal from losing Lily, wouldn’t he be sad? Not – whatever he is?

The confusion wrecks Sirius as he lays in bed alone, makes him wish Remus were around to help him talk it out. It’ll only be another couple hours before Remus comes back, but he won’t be in top form, ready to talk, for a day at least.

Eventually, though, Sirius manages to fall asleep, and it’s probably only a few short hours before James wakes him up. Sirius makes his way to the living room. James is supporting Remus as they walk inside, his shirt torn showing off his – but that’s _so_ not what Sirius should be thinking about right now –

“You guys okay?” Sirius calls out, sleepily. “How can I help?”

“Wasn’t too … bad … today,” Remus gasps, “want to sleep, though.”

“Course, Moony. Here, James, I got him. You go rest.”

Sirius walks over to help James support Remus and get him into the – spare – bedroom. As they settle him down, Remus starts making a soft moaning sound. James startles at it, but Sirius calms him with just a glance. It’s a normal sound for these mornings, signifying comfort (well, as much as possible), not pain.

James stands awkwardly in the doorway as Sirius settles himself down next to Remus. “Well, I guess I’ll go, then,” James stammers, and heads out when Sirius gives him a nod.

Remus valiantly tries to stay awake as Sirius heals the smaller wounds and dresses the larger ones, even tries to speak. “Was good to be with James, Pads, I still wanna go through with the plan.”

Sirius smiles fondly at his boyfriend before shushing him. “Go to sleep, Moony, we’ll talk more later, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Remus smiles, as his eyes close.

Sirius exits the room as quietly as he can, planning on making some tea. He finds, however, that James appears to be already making some.

“So tired, but don’t really wanna sleep just yet. I forgot how exhausting a night out with Remus could be; it’s been so long. So I’m making some chamomile. Want?” James offers, already knowing the answer.

“Chamomile,” Sirius echoes, “just like your mom always made.”

James grins. “Yeah, I suppose it is. That woman did love her tea. So, do you want?” he asks, but he’s already pulling a second mug from the shelf. 

Sirius takes a seat at the table while James busies himself with the tea. “How was he tonight?” he asks.

“Moony?” James responds. “It really wasn’t bad, actually. He kept looking for something – probably Padfoot – but it distracted him and kept him playful rather than angry. It’s so much better being outside, Pads, it will a brilliant decision for you guys to move here.”

“Yeah, it was. That was Remus. He wanted to try it out, and then we found this place removed enough, and it’s not like we can’t Apparate out, so it’s really, really great.”

As the teapot whirls, James pours out two cups – his, extremely lightened with milk, Sirius’s with two cubes of sugar – and makes his way to the table. He takes the seat right next to Sirius, and their knees touch as he sits down. James pulls away quickly, but Sirius feels a tingle. “Was Harry okay?”

“Little brat was a nightmare, actually,” Sirius replies. When James stiffens, Sirius tries to explain. “No, no, I mean, everything was fine, he was fine. He just kept crying. Couldn’t get him to bed for hours. He missed his –“

James cuts him off, unhappy look on his face. “Mum?”

“No, his dad. He missed you, James.”

James looks stricken. “Okay, okay, that’s good. I guess. Merlin, Sirius, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. I’m just so…” he trails off.

Sirius doesn’t know what to do. James was always the strong one. He helped Sirius through all the obstacles he faced in his adolescence, and Sirius never reciprocated. Not because he was unwilling, but because until that prophecy was foretold, James Potter’s life was pretty damn good. James looks so broken, though, so Sirius reaches out to rub James’ hand, which was lying flat on the table, reassuringly. Sirius traces a back and forth pattern a few times with his thumb before James suddenly turns his hand over, to clasp Sirius’s. It feels like he’s grasping for reassurance, but also, connection.

“…confused,” James finally finishes, making Sirius wonder if there’s more to it. (He hopes there is.)

But he has to proceed gingerly, so he plans his next question with care. “Do you think you want to talk about it, try to work some stuff out?” Sirius is hyperly aware of his hand, still resting in James’, neither one of them wanting to let go.

“I do,” James sighs, “but not now. I need some rest. Let’s head to bed?”

Bed. Oh right. The bed that they will be sharing. Which once seemed like a great idea, but now Sirius isn’t so sure. Before Sirius can say something about sleeping on the couch, however, James has stood, not letting go of Sirius’s hand, pulling Sirius along with him.

James takes them to the room Sirius shares with Remus, strips off his shirt and denims before getting into bed. “This okay?” James wondered, suddenly looking like he felt self-conscious, even though Sirius had known that James always only slept in his pants, no matter how warm or cold it was.

Sirius only responds by taking off his shirt, leaving on the PJ pants he enjoys a bit too much. “Yeah, Prongs, it’s fine. But come on, let’s head to bed.”

***

Sirius doesn’t sleep well when Remus isn’t around. Sleeping alone wasn’t a problem until he turned 16, but then, he never wanted to be alone again. He gets too cold, and with that much room to stretch out, his limbs feel all weird when he wakes up. He figured out after a time that it was easier to sleep in Padfoot form to alleviate the problem.

It’s different with James. He’s shorter than Remus, but still taller than Sirius (which never fails to piss him off, but he’s accepted it by now), and a little less gangly than Sirius’ regular bed companion. It should be awkward getting into bed, especially with James as nearly naked as he is…

But it’s not. James sort of collapses onto the bed, on top of the covers, which obviously will not do.

“Prongsss,” Sirius whines in his suddenly half asleep state, “get into bed.”

James harrumphs, but he eventually grins and stands up so he can more easily move himself under the covers. He looks so very appealing, Sirius has to pray to the gods his body does nothing inappropriate while they rest.

Once James is properly settled into bed, he falls asleep almost immediately. It’s so fast, Sirius would think he was actually just pretending – except Sirius has spent enough time sleeping in the same room as James, he knows how very asleep it is.

Sirius has a lot more trouble, with Remus in the other room and the weird feelings he’s having for James, but eventually, he gets there.

***

When he comes to, the sun shining through the curtains is still bright, so Sirius knows he hasn’t been asleep for _too_ long. He feels completely lovely, though, enveloped in a cocoon of blankets and tangled limbs and warmth. The arms surrounding him don’t feel exactly right, a little too short, too muscled, but again, so lovely, he surely doesn’t mind.

He tries to stretch a little, work out his sore muscles, without disturbing the body around him, but as he does, he shifts. His arse comes into contact with the stiff hardness of the man he’s sharing a bed with, and his movement elicits a small moan.

A moan which definitely did not come from Remus.

 _Oh, oh Merlin_ , Sirius thinks as he starts to truly come to consciousness, _this isn’t Remus. This is definitely James next to me._ _James, who is HARD, next to me. Against me._

(Sirius is hard, too, but he would never admit it. Hopefully he can get out of bed without James figuring it out.)

As Sirius tries to extricate himself from the precarious situation he woke up to, he of course jostles James just enough to wake him up. Maybe he’ll pretend to be asleep.

“Morning, Padfoot,” James says in a choked voice, “you’re awake, yeah?”

Sirius tries not to respond, but he can’t lie to James, has never been able to. He nods, knowing James will be able to feel it, even if he’s blind as a bat without his glasses on.

“You ready to talk now?” James asks in a light voice, like he’s asking about the weather. Lovely.

“Um, sure,” Sirius stammers, the butterflies in his stomach attacking. 

“Or we don’t have to talk,” James murmurs. As he’s speaking, he moves his hips almost experimentally. Sirius tries so hard to hold it in, but he lets out a whine as he feels James move against him.

“Jamie,” Sirius pleads in a husky voice, using a nickname he so rarely uses, a name that only comes out in the moments they’re closest, a result of 12 year-old James declaring that he hated that nickname but Sirius, his best friend in the whole world, could use it whenever he wanted. Only Sirius, though.  

But he feels James breathe in deep against him, too, their chests moving in sync. Sirius continues: “what are we _doing_?”

“Turn around,” James demands. “I want to feel you like you’re feeling me.”

Even though his heart is pounding in his chest, he does so. He shouldn’t do this, not without Remus, but he wants, he wants so much – and all of a sudden, he’s face to face with James, their eyes inches away from each other, their mouths even closer. When Sirius’s hardness comes into contact with James’s, James moans, a full-bodied sound, and Sirius has to use all of his willpower to keep himself together.

Sirius closes his eyes, but he can fell James moving closer to him, and it – stops, all of a sudden.

As James pops out of bed, Sirius becomes somewhat aware of Harry crying in the next room. “Fuck my son,” James curses, as he throws on his denims, “not literally, of course, but now?”

Sirius watches as James’ bulge disappears into his jeans, his lightly-muscled chest shining in the mid-afternoon light. As James makes his way out of the room, he turns back to Sirius. “More later, okay?”

The only thing Sirius can do is nod as James disappears through the doorway.

***

Sirius can’t believe what just (almost) happened. He can’t believe how much he wants, what he almost let happen without Remus around, how bloody _hard_ he is. He’s certainly not going to fall back asleep anytime soon, and he kind of wants to go into the shower to rub one out.

But that doesn’t seem right, either. Going to check on Remus seems like the best idea, Sirius thinks, and decides to jump out of bed.

It’s less awkward than it should be when Sirius sneaks by James, who is just getting Harry back to bed. Should it be awkward? Sirius has no idea.

He manages to make it to the spare room with no incident, though, and sees Remus sleeping soundly. Sirius decides not to disturb his love, so he tries to turn around quietly.

Sirius Black is _horrible_ at turning around quietly, though, and as he turns to re-open the doorway, he hears Remus call out for him a soft voice. “Pads?” Remus asks, eyes still closed.

“Hey, Moony,” Sirius whispers, not wanting to further disturb Remus if he’s still in that comfortable half-asleep state and might fall back into it. “How’re you feeling?”

“Good, actually,” Remus croaks as he starts to open his eyes, “comparatively, I mean. The wolf likes playing rough when you’re around, but it was different last night, I think. I feel different. As if it wanted to, I don’t know, make nice with Prongs?”

“You’re much more talkative than usual,” Sirius considers, as he sits down next to Remus. “Do you think it was just because James was there?”

“I’m not sure,” Remus answers, looking like he was weighing the options. He sits up in bed as he talks, and Sirius can see the fresh new gash he was unable to seal up earlier. A quick _episkey_ should do the trick, though, once it heals a bit more on its own.

“I like having James here,” Remus continues. “I don’t want him to leave. I’m kind of scared how much I don’t want him to leave, honestly.”

Sirius takes a moment to figure out how to respond, but in the time he’s thinking, he watches Remus’s face fall from relaxed to alarmed, upset.

“Oh god, I’m scaring you,” Remus worries.

“No, Reme, don’t freak out,” Sirius placates. “I want that, too. But really, I think James wants it, as much as we do.”

“Yeah?” Remus asks. “Anything happen?”  

“Yeah,” Sirius confirms. “We woke up all tangled, and I was hard, and he was hard, and we almostkissedIthink and I shouldn’t have done that without you there, I’m so sorry, but then Harry started crying, and then he got out of bed, and now I’m here.”

Sirius has been looking down as he confessed his latest interaction with James, but when he glances up, Remus is merely grinning. “Well, that’s certainly a good sign, isn’t it?”

Without thinking, Sirius feels himself start to smile too.

“Want to shower with me?” Remus asks. “I could really use one, and we can see how sexually frustrated James appears to be when he hears us in the shower. Seems like he’ll be frustrated, yeah?”

“I think I like this side of you, Moony,” Sirius beams. “Sounds like a wonderful plan. I have a little sexual frustration of my own to deal with, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, kudos, questions would be so very appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you've enjoyed this so far! This is going to be the angstiest chapter by far, don't worry. The fun stuff will come soon. I'm a bit nervous about this one, so comments/kudos appreciated :)


End file.
